Bacopa Monnieri and medications.
Bacopa Monnieri is in the Distil supplement database, evidence Grade B. The page below lists every medication we have explicitly assessed it against.
Bacopa Monnieri is a traditional Ayurvedic herb studied mainly for memory consolidation and processing speed. On cognition the evidence is Grade B, drawn from trials including Stough 2001 and the Kongkeaw 2014 meta-analysis of nine randomised placebo-controlled trials in 518 people, so the effect looks real but modest. Anxiety is a weaker case and we grade it C, meaning emerging: two of those trials did measure anxiety and it improved, but in both it was a secondary measure in people recruited for a cognition study rather than for an anxiety problem, and one of the two found no change on its own mood questionnaire. The most practical thing to know is patience: onset takes 8 to 12 weeks at minimum, and it is not fair to judge it before about week 10. Dosing is 300 to 450mg standardised to 55% bacosides. Early on, expect some gut upset and even a few weeks of fatigue or brain fog that usually clears by week four, and taking it with a fat-containing meal helps. The interactions to respect: Bacopa opposes anticholinergic drugs, and it may shift thyroid hormone levels, so anyone on thyroid medication should monitor. It may also slow the heart rate a little, so anyone with atrial fibrillation or another heart rhythm problem, or taking a medicine for one, is better leaving it out. It pairs best with Lion's Mane for cognition. Set the slow timeline expectation up front so you do not abandon it too early.
Below are the 7 documented pairs we have explicitly assessed for Bacopa Monnieri: 7 caution. The pairs cluster around 3 mechanisms: Antithyroid drug interference, Narrow-therapeutic-index prescriber awareness, and Additive thyroid-hormone effect. Every call is cited to either a clinical reference (PMID) or the British National Formulary. Anything not listed here is either still to be assessed or beyond our database scope. The checker beneath surfaces assessments by medication, and the missing-item form at the bottom of the page routes any uncatalogued medication into our next curation pass.
Documented interactions
Last reviewed 30 October 2026. Each interaction below lists the evidence its assessment drew on: some rest on studies of the exact pair, others on mechanism evidence, where a citation may support one part of the reasoning rather than the exact combination. The evidence line on each entry says which.
Antithyroid drug interference
Caution Does Bacopa Monnieri interact with Carbimazole?
Carbimazole works by lowering an overactive thyroid. Bacopa may gently raise thyroid hormone, so in theory it could pull in the opposite direction and make carbimazole a little less effective. This is based on animal studies rather than people, so it is a sensible caution rather than a firm warning. If you take carbimazole, mention bacopa to the clinician who manages your thyroid and keep to your usual thyroid blood tests so your dose can be reviewed if needed.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
Caution Does Bacopa Monnieri interact with Propylthiouracil?
Propylthiouracil works by lowering an overactive thyroid. Bacopa may gently raise thyroid hormone, so in theory it could pull in the opposite direction and make propylthiouracil a little less effective. This is based on animal studies rather than people, so it is a sensible caution rather than a firm warning. If you take propylthiouracil, mention bacopa to the clinician who manages your thyroid and keep to your usual thyroid blood tests.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
Narrow-therapeutic-index prescriber awareness
Caution Does Bacopa Monnieri interact with Amiodarone?
Bacopa may slow the heart rate a little: in one 12-week trial, heart rate held steady on bacopa while it rose on placebo. The effect is small, but with amiodarone, which is taken for a heart rhythm condition, it is safest not to take bacopa unless your cardiologist agrees.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
Caution Does Bacopa Monnieri interact with Digoxin?
Bacopa may slow the heart rate a little: in one 12-week trial, heart rate held steady on bacopa while it rose on placebo. The effect is small, but with digoxin, which is usually taken for atrial fibrillation or heart failure, it is safest not to take bacopa unless your cardiologist agrees.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
Caution Does Bacopa Monnieri interact with Flecainide acetate?
Bacopa may slow the heart rate a little: in one 12-week trial, heart rate held steady on bacopa while it rose on placebo. The effect is small, but with flecainide, which is taken for a heart rhythm condition, it is safest not to take bacopa unless your cardiologist agrees.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
Caution Does Bacopa Monnieri interact with Sotalol hydrochloride?
Bacopa may slow the heart rate a little: in one 12-week trial, heart rate held steady on bacopa while it rose on placebo. The effect is small, but with sotalol, which is taken for a heart rhythm condition, it is safest not to take bacopa unless your cardiologist agrees.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
Additive thyroid-hormone effect
Caution Does Bacopa Monnieri interact with Levothyroxine?
Bacopa may gently raise your own thyroid hormone, so taken alongside levothyroxine it could in theory add to your total thyroid level and tip you towards having a little too much, with symptoms like a racing heart, feeling wired, or losing weight. This is based on animal studies rather than human ones, so it is a sensible caution rather than a firm warning. If you take both, mention it to the clinician who manages your thyroid and ask for a TSH blood test a few weeks later so your levothyroxine dose can be reviewed if needed.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
What this list does not say. Pairs not flagged here are not implicitly safe. They are either not yet in our database, or fall outside our inclusion scope. Use the checker below to surface any medication, and submit a missing item if you take something we have not catalogued.
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How the checker decides
Every result has a source
Each pair we have assessed is cited to a published study (PMID) or the British National Formulary, so you can read the source yourself.
Four kinds of answer
Severe, caution, no known interaction, and not yet assessed. A pair we have not assessed is never shown as clear.
- Severe
- Caution
- No known interaction
- Not yet assessed
Nothing in our data is not a clearance
When nothing in our data records a problem with a pair, the result says no known interaction at typical doses, which is not a clearance: your pharmacist or GP can check the pair against your full medical history.
A full supplement review, built around you, not a generic stack.
The free checker answers one interaction question at a time. A Distil report reviews the bigger picture: your goals, diet, medications, current supplements and any blood results you provide, then shows what appears worth keeping, changing, adding or leaving out.
- what your diet already covers, so you are not adding a capsule for something food is already handling
- which evidence-graded compounds are worth considering for your goals, and which were considered but left out
- what to keep, change or stop from what you already take, plus the order to introduce anything new
- how your medications and complete supplement stack fit together, with daily timing and a clear point for reassessment
The interaction check is one section of the full report. You also get the reasoning behind each recommendation and the evidence references used.
£49 until 30 June 2027 · £79 from 1 July 2027.
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